The summit entailed a series of workshop sessions revolving around a variety of issues concerning STEM education and the ATE program: equity gaps; recruitment and retainment strategies for underrepresented populations; and professional development, to name a few.

Summit sessions were attended by faculty and administrator teams from 15 colleges all new to the ATE program. The sessions were designed to be highly engaging, drawing feedback and insight from community college educators and leaders about these pertinent issues.

Read the full report to learn more about the summit, in addition to projects and centers (including ATE Central) that were highlighted for ongoing support within the ATE Community.

Great Minds in STEM (GMiS) has announced that their scholarship portal for 2019 is now open. There are two types of scholarships available: a national scholarship open to all students (graduating high school seniors, undergraduates, and graduate students) pursuing a STEM degree, and the Artemio G. Navarro Scholarship, which is open only to graduating seniors attending Bishop Mora Salesian High School in Los Angeles.

The deadline to apply is April 1, 2019, and the application requirements and instructions can be found on the GMiS website.

Registration for the 2019 showcase has opened! Registration to present will end on February 19 (or earlier if the showcase receives more than 250 registrations). Once approved, presenters can submit their videos between March 13 and April 23.

The STEM For All Video Showcase is an interactive, online event that is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and features federally funded projects aimed at improving STEM or CS learning and teaching in formal or informal environments. The Showcase takes place online from May 13 - 20 and during the event, thousands of participants will view the videos, have discussions, and vote for their favorites.

Start the new year off right by joining presenters Rachael Bower, Director/PI of ATE Central and Farra Trompeter, Vice President of communications firm Big Duck, for two upcoming free, live webinars held in January and February. In these webinars, the presenters will share ideas for how to create descriptive yet simple mission statements and tactics for optimizing your project or center’s outreach strategies.

Tell a good story: Crafting Mission Statements and messages for your ATE project or center

Tuesday. Jan. 29, 1-2 pm ET

In this live webinar, Rachael and Farra will discuss how mission statement elements and messages from your project or center can be created to more effectively engage students, partners, funders, and other key external audiences. Read more about this webinar and enroll here.

So many choices, so little time: Setting strategies to guide your tactics

Tuesday, Feb. 26, 1-2 pm ET

Rachael and Farra will discuss how your project or center can optimize social media and communications channels, in addition to how to craft an outreach strategy while staying focused on which tactics are worth your time. Read more about this webinar and enroll here.

Great Minds in STEM, a non-profit that promotes STEM education and careers to underserved communities, recently announced that the U.S. Army RDECOM Competition deadline has been extended to January 15, 2019, and specifically invites students attending Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal colleges and universities, and historically Black colleges and universities to enter the competition.

Students entering the competition can submit design proposals in two categories: Small UAVs and UAVs from biologically-based materials. Two design proposals are allowed per eligible institution and each team must be comprised of three to eight students.

The National Science Foundation will be running a social media campaign - #MySTEMspark - until Dec. 7, which seeks to energize the STEM community around the importance of STEM education and is asking its partners, stakeholders and anyone who has a passion in science to share the moment that sparked their curiosity about or interest in science, technology, engineering or math.

#MySTEMspark stories can be shared on Twitter and Instagram; for those who don't use either of those social media platforms, you can email your story to tellus@nsf.gov. Don't forget to tag NSF! @NSF

If you're needing some ideas or inspiration for what to share, check out the #MySTEMspark Toolkit, which contains graphics and templates.

An exciting partnership has formed between the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) and the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). Through this collaboration, community and technical college faculty will have the opportunity to earn credit toward ACUE’s Certificate in Effective College Instruction through new online and face-to-face “seminars” offered jointly by NISOD and ACUE.

Seminars are credit-bearing and those who participate in the courses will be recognized at the annual NISOD conference. Those who are interested in taking seminars through this collaboration can expect to see more information in the coming weeks.

“We formed this collaboration given our mutual strengths and complementary work, as we’re always looking for additional ways to support faculty,” Dr. Penny MacCormack, ACUE’s chief academic officer, said. “Both NISOD and ACUE aim to ensure every faculty member is supported and every college student receives the best education possible.”

To learn more about this announcement, visit the official press release.

If you haven't done so already, now is a great time to order copies of the new ATE Impacts book, which highlights the impact of ATE centers and projects and also celebrates the 25th anniversary of the ATE program. Copies of the book are freely available and are a great resource to use for a variety of outreach activities. The publication can be useful in engaging many stakeholders - helping industry partners understand the breadth of ATE activities, helping potential students and their parents get excited about STEM and ATE, or finding potential partners and collaborators.

Once again, ATE Central and the American Association of Community Colleges are pleased to announce the release of this year’s ATE PI Conference mobile app! The 2018 app and companion website are designed to help attendees make the most of their conference experience. Conference participants can use their phone, tablet, or internet browser to create a personal schedule, stay up-to-date with the agenda and speaker lineup, search the attendee directory, and more! The PI Meeting app is designed to work on iOS and Android devices. To download the app, search the app store for "ATE PI 2018” or simply follow the appropriate link from a mobile device. Also, check out the app video for help with navigation or features!

There’s a lot you can do with the app but we always look for ways to make it better. We’d love to get your feedback and we’re happy to answer any questions or help out if you’re having any problems logging in or using the app. Please don’t hesitate to contact staff at ATE Central at info@atecentral.net or stop by our booth (#002) at either of the showcase sessions!

Hosted by the American Association of Community Colleges, this webinar is designed to provide an introduction to the topic of unconscious bias to community college administrators and educators. Unconscious bias is defined as the automatic, implicit, and instantaneous association of stereotypes or attitudes towards a particular group of people.

The presenter is Dr. J. Luke Wood, Co-Director of the Community College Equity Assessment Lab at San Diego State University. The webinar will be moderated by Kevin Christian, Senior Program Associate for Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity at the AACC. Registration for the webinar is free.